Universal joint



June 11, y193,5f

J. R. SNYDER UNIVERSAL JOINT Filed Jn. 2s, 1933 w HH Vw@ INVENTOR 4 WITNESSS l 130%" Patented June 1 1, 1935 UNITED `STATES PATENT ori-"Ici:l

' 8 Claims.

My invention pertains in general to universal joints, and more particularly to universal joints for employment in connection with the propeller shafts of automobiles and the like. It is ,an object of my invention to provide 4Vsuch a joint in which the metallic parts may be made of material of relatively low cost, avoiding the expense of the special alloy steels lnow generally used thereon, in which there will be no necessity for l@ the various hardening, grinding and other operations which heighten the cost of such joints as now usually manufactured, and which, therefore, can be produced with great economy. It

is another object of myA invention `to provide a universal joint which will absorb the shocks which would otherwise be imparted by one member thereof to the other. Other objects will appear from the following specification and claims.

' A universal joint constructed in accordance with my invention, together with a modied form thereof, is described by-way of example in the followingr speoication" and shown inthe accom- Vpanying drawing. tis to be understood, however, that the invention may be. embodied in other forms, and that changes may be made in the forms describedand shown without exceed- 'ing the scope thereof, as defined in the claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a sectional View showing a universal joint embodying my invention, the section being taken on the line I-I of Fig. 2;-

Fig. 2 is across-section of the same, the section beingl taken on the line T.I-II of Fig. l;v and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l, but showing 85 a modied form of the joint. .1

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, Elil designates one of the shafts, which may be the driving shaft and which maybe provided with key projections il splined intothe corresponding grooves of a tubular continuation shaft i2. The shaftrll is hollow, and is formed at its end with a driving spider consisting of a plurality of wings i3.

These wings are preferably three or more in num` ber, four of them being shown.

Surrounding the driving spider is "a cage comprising a iiange I4. secured to an end plate I5, as by welding, and having extending therefrom a plurality of U-shaped portions I6. These portions correspond in shape and number with the wings I3 of the driving spider, and are of such dimensions as to leavespace for the reception of rubber between their inner walls and the facesv of the wings I3, as well as between the end plate l5 and the ends of the wings I3. Thus one-half of eachU portion and the opposite half of the (Cl. 6ft-96) adjacent U portion constitute, in effect, an arm disposed between a pair of wings of the spider. Centrally from the end plate I5 there extends a contralizing member I'I having at its ends a spherical portion I B. This centralizing member 5 is'of such length that when the cage is assembled upon the driving spider the spherical portion I8 becomes located within the open end of the tubular shaft I0. To the end plate I5 is secured, by bolts or the like I9, the ilange 20 of the coupling 10 2 I fof the other shaft, 22, of the joint, which shaft may, be the driven shaft. I'he interior space between the U-portions l5 of the cage -and the wings I3 of the spider, and between the extremities of the spider and the 15 end plate i5, are lled with rubber 25, which is made to adhere, by one of the metal and rubber bonding processes now well known, to the spider, cage and centralizing member. Spaces a are left, however, at the radially outward ends of the U- 20 portions of the cage, so as to provide room for the expansion of such portions of the rubber as are put under compression. Rubber showing a durometer hardness of 55 may be employed,

though this degree of hardness may be consid- 25 erably varied. A. 4 The rubber `connection between thedriving and driven members eiiiciently fullls all drivingrequirements, and at the same time, through the exibility of the rubber, permits of varl- 30 ations in the inclination of one shaft with respect to the other. "I'he bonding of the rubber to the metal, as accomplished by present-day processes isso secure that there is no `danger of separation. Considering the shaft I0 to be 35 the driving shaft, and to rotate clockwise, as seen in Fig. 2, the portions of rubber at?) will be under compression, while the portions of rubber atc will be under tension. With rubber of a durometer hardness of 55, `about of the 40 torque load will be taken up in compressing the portions b, while about 25% will be` taken up in stretching the portions c, and it is found that the rubber is capable, with an abundant factor of safety, of withstanding any loads which will 'be 45 imparted thereto under any conditions that can be encountered in the use of lthe device. is the case even though the joint may become heated, as, for instance, because of continued vibra.- 50 tion of 'the parts of the coupling with respect to each other due to the running of an yautomobile over rough roads and with constant variations of the application of power. The centralizing member always maintains the two parts' of 55 remainder of the machinery is such that longitudinal movement between the driving and driven members will. be small, I propose to dispense with the splined construction, which is expensive and requires lubrication. To this end,

in the modified form of my universal joint'shown in Fig. 3, a solidshaft Illa replaces the splined (shaft Il and continuation shaft I2, being provided with a cavity 23 at its outer end and with a driving spider similar to that described in connection with the preceding embodiment. The cage, with its U-shaped portions 16, is likewise similar to that shown in Fig. 2, except that in this modified `form the centralizing member Ha is of cylindrical material and has slidably mounted 'thereon a ring 24, the outer part of which, while not spherical, is shaped towards the spherical. 'Ihe centralizing member and ring are made of one or another of the oilless nonfriction materials now commonly available on the market. The centralizing member is chromium plated from the line d-l toits extremity, or otherwise so treated that the rubber will not adhere thereto, this being indicated, for purposes of clearness, in Fig. 3, by the showing of a small space between the rubber and the centralizing member from4 the line d--d to the 'end of the ring 24, although such space might not actually occur in practice. Except for the portion 'just noted, the rubber 25 is bonded to the metallic portions of the joint in the manner that has been described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2, being also bonded to the outer surface of lthe ring 24. It will be noted that this construction safely permits longitudinal movement between the two members of the coupling in spite of the narrow section of rubber which surrounds the ring 2L` j 'Ihe coupling of my invention is exceedingly economical of manufacture, presenting no re- 'quirement for expensive special alloy materials and requiring no hardening, grinding, special fitting operations or the like. It can be manufactured at greatly reduced expense as com-l A 'ing portions extending substantially radially secondmember having substantially radial por-- therefrom and formed with an axial cavity, a

tions constructed to extend between the radial 'portions of said first-named member and having an axial centralizing portionconstructed to extend into the cavity of said .first-named member,

and a one-piece rubber iilling disposed between the radial portions of said members and in the Y cavity of said rst-named member between said centralizing portion and the radially extending portions of said members where it encircles the centralizing portion and spaces it from said firstnamed member. I g

2. A universaljoint comprising a member having portions extending substantially radially' l .therefrom and formed with an axial cavity, a

second member having substantially radial portions constructed to extend between the radial tralizing portion and hold it out of contact with said mst-named member, said iilling also being disposed between and attached to the radial portions of said members, whereby torque applied to said driving member is imparted to said driven member through compression of said filling on one side of said ,radial-portions and tension of said filling on the other side of said portions.

' 3. A universal joint comprising a member having portions extending substantially radially therefrom and formed with an axial cavity, a

second member having substantially radial portions constructed to extend between the radial portions of said first-named member, a centralizing member carried by said second-named member and extending within the cavity of said rstnamed member, a bearing member slidably associated with said centralizing member, and a rubber filling disposed between the radial portions of said menibers and in the cavity of said rstnamed member to completely embrace said bearing member, said filling being bonded to said radial portions., TJ

4. A universal joint comprising a member liaving portions extending substantially radially therefrom and formed with an axial cavity, a second member having substantially radial portions constructed to extend between the radial portions of said rst-named member, a centralizing member carried by said second-named member and extending within the cavity of said firstnamed member, a bearing member slidably associated with said centralizing'member, and a rubber filling disposed between the radial portions of said members and in the ca vity of said mst-named member to embrace said bearing member, said filling being attached to said radial portions and to said bearing member, but free of said centralizing member at the part thereof adjacent said bearing member.

5. A universal joint comprising a metallic member provided with 'a plurality of arms extending substantially radially thereof, a second metallic member provided with arms extending substantially radially thereof, and disposed between the arms of said first-named member, a centralizing member extending from one of said members and entering the other member axially, and a rubber body embracing and bonded to said centralizing member, said body having portions disposed between. the arms oiVonev member and those of the other member and bonded to said arms.

6. A universal joint comprising ametallicmember provided witha plurality of arms extendingy to and to said arms and centralizing members,

said rubber illling alsooccupying the space berst-named member to surround said centralizing portion, said lling also being disposed between the radial portions of said members, and all survfaces of the iilling being bonded to the members which they engage whereby abrasion between the filling and said members is prevented.

8. A universal joint comprising a driving member, a driven member, acentering member, and a single piece of rubber spacing all of said members apart and bonded to each of them to form 10 a unitary flexible joint. JACOB RUSH SNYDER. 

